More Anniversary Stuff

Although I enjoy wordsmithing as much as anything else I do, I don’t think that I’ll ever find the words to adequately describe the beautiful joy that came into my life when I met Mary. Having longingly watched her from a distance, it seemed much too good to be true when she accepted my invitation to the Valentine’s Day Dance. I had dated girls/women who belonged to my caste, but to reach out for this beauty was truly exceeding my grasp. And then to learn that she actually liked me, loved me, was beyond my wildest imagination. There was never any question in my mind that this was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, and even though there were those who thought we were rushing into marriage after having dated for a little over a year, we knew that it was right for us. Dad, as the condition for officiating at our wedding, sent us to a counselor who pronounced that our marriage would never last. If he’s still alive these thirty-eight years later, I’d like to show him how very wrong his educated opinion turned out to be. The experience did teach me, however, when I myself counseled couples wanting to get married, to never be so arrogant as to judge whether a relationship was going to succeed or not. The truth is that such is not even the purpose of meaningful counseling, but I digress. On Saturday, my best friend, my significant other, my soul mate, my wife and I will enjoy an evening with Lewis Black. Neither of us dreamed that our thirty-eighth anniversary would be spent in Las Vegas, anymore than we knew that we would parent two beautiful daughters. The only thing we’ve known for sure these many years is that we love each other, and that God has richly blessed our union.